Discrimination during redundancy

It’s discrimination if you’re made redundant at least partly because you’re:

pregnant or on maternity leave

from a particular race, ethnicity or country

married or in a civil partnership

a man or a woman

disabled

lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), or seen to be

have a particular religion or set of beliefs

older or younger than the other people you work with

You can be made redundant if you’re in one of these categories, but not if that’s the reason you’re made redundant.

It could also be discrimination if you’re made redundant and being in one of these groups made you more likely to be chosen. This could happen if the way your employer chooses people is more likely to affect people in one of these groups.

For example, it’s disability discrimination if your employer chooses you because you’ve taken the most sick leave, but your sickness was connected to a disability.

It could be sex discrimination if you're a woman caring for a child or relative and your employer makes the people with the least flexible hours redundant. Women are more likely than men to have less flexible hours because they're caring for children or relatives.

You can’t be made redundant while you’re pregnant or on maternity leave if your job still exists. It’s unfair dismissal if the person who covered for you during your maternity leave is still doing your job, or one that’s similar.

If you’ll have been working for your employer for at least 2 years by the time you leave, check your right to be offered other work. You should be offered any suitable job your employer has, even if someone else might be more qualified.

If you've previously complained about discrimination (victimisation)

Your redundancy is unfair if your employer chooses you because you’ve previously complained about discrimination. Making you redundant because you’ve complained about discrimination is called victimisation - check if your redundancy is victimisation.